Flora of North America species comparison

5-45 cm, slender, erect or spreading;

from a dense tuft of predominantly basal leaves, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;

nodes glabrous or bearded;

internodes glabrous or pilose;

fall phase with spreading culms and branches arising from near the bases forming a dense, flat tuft.

20-75 cm, erect or decumbent to sprawling, often purplish;

nodes and internodes glabrous or puberulent to pubescent;

fall phase initially nearly erect, often sprawling eventually, branches initially erect and apparently dichotomous, later rebranching, blades and secondary panicles smaller than those of the culms.

2-4;

lower cauline sheaths longer than the internodes, mostly glabrous or pilose with ascending hairs, margins finely ciliate;

ligules 0.2-2 mm, at low magnification appearing to be membranous and ciliate, at high magnification evidently of hairs that are coherent at the base;

blades 1.5-6 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous or softly pilose, margins with prominent papillose-based cilia, at least basally.

4-6;

sheaths not overlapping, often glaucous, purplish, or olivaceous, glabrous or puberulent, margins usually ciliate;

ligules about 0.3 mm, membranous, ciliate, cilia longer than the membranous portion, rarely with adjacent, about 12 mm hairs;

blades 5-16 cm long, 5-25 mm wide, linear to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous or puberulent, with 9-13 major veins and 30-80 minor veins, bases cordate-clasping, often asymmetrical, with papillose-based marginal cilia.

5-12 cm long, 3-10 cm wide, open, exserted;

branches flexuous.

1.1-2.1 mm, obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, glabrous or pubescent, hairs not papillose-based.

2.2-3.2 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid, yellowish-green or purplish, pubescent.

1/3 - 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acute to obtuse;

upper florets 0.8-1.7 mm, ellipsoid, subacute.

0.7-1.8 mm;

upper glumes and lower lemmas equaling or slightly shorter than the spikelets;

lower florets sterile;

upper florets often minutely umbonate.

rosettes poorly differentiated;

blades 1-5 cm, lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades 1-14 cm long, to 22 mm wide, ovate to lanceolate.

panicles short- to long-exserted;

rachises and branches often pilose.

= 18.